99 5.0L Balancer/Synchronizer timing WAY out...

[CDW6212R]

Sounds good. That might be just like mine, a little leakage residue of oil, coolant etc, on most of the front/bottom of the engine. I still need a little water some days, but it'll get the new parts eventually(and stay clean then).

 

[skpyle]

Yep. I have a business card sized spot under the front of the engine after I shut it down. Not a puddle, just a spot. I add coolant to the over flow bottle every other week or so.
It will live until I get the gumption up to take it all apart again, or the water pump fails. Whichever comes first.

 

[Turdle]

Good job!
For what it's worth, it doesn't matter where the cps is pointing as long as it is timed correctly. Most point off center anyway-

 

[skpyle]

Thanks Turdle!!! I understand about the correct timing and alignment of the CPS, just being OCD about its positioning.

 

[gmanpaint]

Home made piston stop. Brass fitting tapped for the bolt, View attachment 158261 and a locking nut to hold it in place

Can I borrow this for a little bit? You could hand it to me so it doesn't get lost in the mail too.

 

[skpyle]

Unfortunately, the piston stop I made that didn't work got disassembled immediately afterword and the component pieces trashed or put back where they belonged.

 

[allmyEXes]

I guess that I got lucky marking with a Sharpie like one of the forum Veteran members suggested. I replaced my CPS with a used Motorcraft unit and the 5.0 ran like a scalded dog when asked to. I can only imagine how my 250K 5.0 with a performance cam and a custom tune would run. This is the last of the FoMoCo smallblocks and is a long way from the 221 cubic inch from which they started. Oh BTW, my plug wires are original 21 YO FoMoCo s.

 

[Turdle]

Can I borrow this for a little bit? You could hand it to me so it doesn't get lost in the mail too.

it'll be on it's way tomorrow brother.

 

[gmanpaint]

Thank you kindly sir!

 

[Pontisteve]

Alright, it runs!!! However, it scared the bejezzus outta me. As soon as the engine fired, I heard a continuous 'Tak - tak - tak...'
I immediately shut it off and checked my pants for fecal matter.
I started the engine back up and searched all over. Fan, accessory drive, etc... all looked and sounded OK. 'Tak'-ing noise appeared to be coming from the passenger side valve cover, front. Cylinder 1. Where I had been shoving a screwdriver into the plug hole and rotating the crank.
I had visions of a messed up valve, rocker arm, pushrod, whatever.
I crawled under, noise was not magnified. Did not sound like a bottom end knock.
Back up top, I tried to use a long screwdriver as a sounding rod. Did not sound like it was coming from the CPS or camshaft synchronizer.
I had my tablet on running Torque Pro. I noticed the sound diminishing somewhat as the engine came up to temp. I let it continue to run.
All vital signs looked good on Torque Pro: vacuum, coolant temp, trans temp, RPM, voltage, spark advance all looked normal. The CEL was not illuminated, and scanning for fault codes with Torque Pro found none.

For what it is worth, there have been NO noises from this engine for the 80,000 miles I have owned it. This is the first.

After about 15 minutes of idling, the sound was completely gone. Gently rev'ing the engine showed no noise. I am going to hope it was a stuck lifter or something to that effect. I am about to go on a 30 mile round trip drive to return the rental harmonic balancer installer tool kit. We shall see how she runs.

On a side note, replacing the upper and lower radiator hoses, bypass hose, front heater hose, thermostat, and gasket appears to have taken care of the annoying coolant leak I have been dealing with for quite some time. I suspect the bypass hose...


Seth K. Pyle


View attachment 158285
Piston stop I attempted to fabricate on top, and leak down tester adapter I used as a guide for a bolt to find TDC through the spark plug hole at bottom.




View attachment 158286

Balancer at TDC.




View attachment 158287

Camshaft synchronizer flag now misaligned with the balancer at TDC.




View attachment 158288

Adjusted the camshaft synchronizer to realign the flag with the balancer at TDC.




View attachment 158289

CPS is pointing quite a bit to the passenger's side. I chose to just move the housing to align it. I wanted to make sure everything would run right first. Later, when I get in there again, I will pull the synchronizer and set it so the sensor points dead front.




View attachment 158290

All back together and ready for a test drive.

Skpyle, great pictures and info, thanks. I have a couple thoughts on this that you might consider. First, when you see that picture of the cam sensor tooth being "misaligned" because it's not in the center of that window, that might be the correct position. It's not the center of that reluctor wheel tooth that's the deciding factor. It's either the leading or the trailing edge of that tooth. Typically, the leading edge. That's what the computer sees. Whether it's leading or trailing edge that matters is something decided in the engine computer calibration, but it usually is the leading edge.

When you look at the picture, one edge of that reluctor tooth is basically in the middle of that window. So that "misaligned" tooth is probably actually the correct alignment.

It's also worth noting that the cam sensor basically only has to tell the PCM whether you're on the intake/compression stroke, or the power/exhaust stroke of the #1 cylinder. The crank rotates twice for every once that the distributor shaft rotates. The crank has 36 teeth (well, 35) that tells the PCM precisely where in the engine rotation the crankshaft is. This is what determines when the PCM fires the coils and injectors. But with a crank sensor alone, the computer doesn't know which stroke the motor is on. With Waste Spark ignition, this actually doesn't matter, since the coil for each pair of companion cylinders actually fires both cylinders anyway. So for waste spark motors, you don't even need a cam sensor.

The cam sensor is for making sure the PCM knows the engine position and stroke, so it can fire the fuel injectors at the right time. And I'm guessing that the injectors are still fired off the crank sensor, not the cam sensor. But it still needs to know which stroke you're on, or the injector timing will be 360 degrees off. It will probably run just fine even if it were that far off. But it's best that the injection timing is correct, for emissions, mileage, cold starts, etc.